Amarjit Singh Dulat, an Indian
Police Service from Rajasthan Cadre (1965), formerly served as special director
of the (Indian) Intelligence Bureau and then as chief of Indian spy agency RAW
(1999 to 2000). Post retirement he adjusted as ‘advisor on Kashmir’ in the Prime
Minister’s Office (January 2001 to May 2004). As an experienced spy chief, Mr.
Dulat knows the limitations of his revelations, the scope of his official NDA’s
(non disclosure agreements) and the effect any such revelations may have on the
policy of New Delhi upon the Jammu & Kashmir conflict.

And in ‘revealing’ all that he
has written or spoken, Mr. Dulat must surely have measured and calibrated enough,
to reach an aim on Kashmir, especially when he is a member of ‘National
Security Advisory Board’. His aim could be a combination of psycho ops,
dart in the blind and making a fast buck on the much thrashed print on Kashmir.
Even while the ex spy chief would be privy to many inside stories and game
plans on Kashmir, none of those facts are ever to come out for they would treat
as breach of professionalism, nationalism and Chanakya’ism for an ex spy.

Still yet, as a Kashmiri layman,
I will try to dissect his latest revelations:

Former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
was against making Mufti Muhammad Sayeed the Chief Minister of Jammu and
Kashmir because of “grave doubts that his daughter Mehbooba Mufti had militant
links.”

What role did Indian
PM Vajpayee have in making Mufti Sayeed the CM, when the alliance was supposed
to be between Congress & PDP? Does Mr. Dulat mean that the Indian PM has a
veto to ‘choose’ who rules J&K, even when the electorate may have voted their
political preferences?

Chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, Syed
Salahuddin
sought a favour from Intelligence Bureau (IB) that his son be given a medical
seat in a college in Kashmir which was agreed to.

In 2000, Syed Salahudin’s son Syed
Wahid was selected for MBBS with a merit rank of 92 thru CET (Common
Entrance Test). Till he appeared for the examination and cleared it on his own merit
not many would have even known that he is Syed Salahudin’s son. After being
admitted in Medical College at Jammu, the only help he sought from authorities
was to migrate to the Medical College in Kashmir, since he was facing life
threats in Jammu. In such cases it is the duty of the state to ensure security,
not any favor.

I have had the opportunity to interact
with Wahid’s brother during an interview where I was part of the panel. The gentleman
was unassumingly down to earth and capable, and we knew not about his family. I
could see his merit working for him, not his name. And I am sure his other
brothers are of the same hardworking, meritorious ilk. Dulat’s claim could have
two reasons; to discredit Syed Salahudin and to show the largesse of India,
even on separatists. But he fails on both counts. On the first count, whatever political
ideals groups in Kashmir may have, all of them know the unflinching stance of Syed
Salahudin. And on the second count, Dulat makes a joke of the Indian largesse
in Kashmir by limiting it to a single medical seat. To shatter his Indian largesse
delusion, the Indian army needs to forward a copy of the 500 crore Kashmir flood
rescue bill to Mr Dulat.

‘Farooq – Delhi Deal’: Vajpayee wanted to make Farooq
Abdullah as Vice President but reneged on the promise. “This was part of an
idea Vajpayee had to make Omar Abdullah Chief Minister of Kashmir whilst making
his father Farooq Vice President,”

Was this the Vajpayee solution to ‘The
Kashmir problem’? If yes then what was the Agra summit for? Dulat’s claim that ‘Vajpayee had to make Omar Abdullah
Chief Minister of Kashmir’ only verifies claims
of election rigging in Kashmir. Dulat should have been brave enough to explain
this further like others had done before.

‘It is widely believed that the elections of
1987 were rigged in favour of Mr Abdullah's party’. (BBC, 14
September, 2002)

‘The 1987 elections did not “appear to be
rigged,” but were in fact rigged’. (D Suba Chandran, IPCS)

‘The manipulation of (1987) elections
disappointed Kashmiris. They said “we were trying to change the political framework
by democratic and peaceful methods, but we have failed in this. Therefore we should
take up the gun” (Kashmir In Conflict; India Pakistan And The Unending War,
Victoria Schofield).

And
if 1987 was not enough of democratic fraud, the next election had a similar
story. 'The Meadow' (Adrian Levy, Cathy Scott-Clark) describes how Farooq Adbullah & Rajesh
Pilot used renegades and money to rig the elections of 1996 in Kashmir.

‘Governor Saxena calmed Farooq Abdulla’; Dulat recounted the “fury and anger”
of Farooq Abdullah when he was informed that three militants had to be released
as part of the IC 814 deal. He said “Farooq ventilated his anger for three
hours and then stormed off to meet Governor Saxena intending to resign.
However, Governor Saxena calmed him down over two glasses of whisky and Farooq,
eventually, accepted the situation and agreed to the release of militants.”

According to Dulat, Farooq Abdulla agreed
to free three militants over two glasses of whisky. Only proves how easy it was
for New Delhi to control the ‘rulers’ of J&K for the past six decades. This
then begs a question, what easy deal was offered (dare I say how many glasses) for
signing the death warrant of Late Maqbool Bhat? And what was the deal New Delhi
offered Omar to agree on the hanging of Late Afzal Guru?

Dulat says Mirwaiz Umar Farooq “lacks political courage”. “He is
scared he could be killed, and scared of the ISI and Pakistan.”

Do Mirwaiz’s repeated
efforts to resolve Kashmir by dialogue mean, lack of ‘political courage’? What kind
of ‘political courage’ is Dulat talking about when India refuses to even start
any meaningful talk to untangle the Kashmir issue? It’s India which lacks political
will or courage by refusing to talk or let people speak, not Mirwaiz or other
Hurriyat groups.

Dulat’s second
contention is amateurish at best. After his father and uncle were killed by assailants,
wouldn’t Mirwaiz have to be extra cautious for his personal safety? Not only
was the state in know of the risks facing the Mirwaiz family, they seem to be
unwilling to cover those risks. In such a scenario in Kashmir, it is not only
the state that has to be feared but the non state and the deep state too. Since
the deep state is the core of the state, hence the greatest risk in Kashmir comes
from the state only.

‘Agra
Summit’ : Dulat
says that a meeting L K Advani had with Gen Musharraf the night before soured
the atmosphere. “This is when Advani surprised Musharraf by asking for Dawood
Ibrahim. This took Musharraf back and a shadow was cast thereafter on the Agra
summit.”

Fact: The July 15th talks between Vajpayee and Musharraf culminated into the foreign
ministers of India and Pakistan completing an accord by evening same day.
The Pakistani delegation retired for the night believing that July 16th
was going to be a big day on Kashmir. But on the same night of July 15th
Advani asked to see the draft, following which RSS President Sudarshan had
Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi (Minister for HR) take over and prepare a
revised draft. By the next morning Vajpayee had been reduced to a spectator and
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh humiliated by his own staffer V. K. Katju (then
JS in-charge Pakistan desk MEA) who refused to show him the revised draft
document. As Major General Rashid Qureshi, DG Inter Services public relations
later put it "The joint statement prepared by foreign ministers was
changed three times by an unseen power".

The problem
with Kashmir is not only that the same people responsible for igniting and fueling
the insurgent rebellion of late 80’s & 90's are the ones who clung to power
and decided our fate in the after years. Tragedy is also that India has not
stopped its deep state control in Kashmir. The same people who have entrenched
their aristocratic hold on its power structure, continue to lead a red flag
herd to 'all'e karre waangan karr'e, Babb
karr'e lo'lo' (Gourd or aubergine, whatever we are sold for, Bab (leader) may
do whatever he pleases). And the likes of Dulat only try to be their advocates.

And over
decades we were truly sold as cheap as gourd and aubergine.

The close to 80,000 innocent Kashmiris would have not lost their lives had the
political treachery of six decades not robbed us of all our political and
economic rights & that too with such brazen impunity.